The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced that it will hold a webinar on issues impacting the Internet that are being discussed at the United Nations (U.N.) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The event will take place on 12 April 2022 at 20:00 UTC through the Zoom online platform. Please register for the webinar here.
Throughout 2022, many different organizations plan to hold meetings and conferences to discuss Internet issues that are directly related to ICANN's mission. This will culminate with the ITU Plenipotentiary conference to be held 26 September to 14 October 2022, and the election of a new ITU Secretary-General. Subject-matter experts from ICANN's Government and IGO Engagement (GE) team are following these developments and will brief the community about them during the webinar.
The GE function is responsible for the development and implementation of a global strategy for ICANN to engage with governments. The team's subject-matter experts monitor and analyze the activities of governments to ensure that ICANN is informed about geopolitical issues impacting its mission. The GE team also publishes a series of papers on these topics.
Naela Sarras, Vice President for Stakeholder Engagement in North America at ICANN, will moderate the webinar.
Veni Markovski, ICANN's Vice President for U.N. Engagement, will present during the webinar. Markovski has chaired the Bulgarian President's IT Advisory Committee and has served on the ICANN Board of Directors, the Board of Trustees of the Internet Society, and the Board of Directors of the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, among others.
Alexey Trepykhalin, Government and IGO Engagement Manager, will also provide his observations on current events. A lawyer by training, he has worked in a variety of positions involving Internet governance and cybersecurity for the U.S. government.